Written Answers Monday 17 December 2007

Airports

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the annual passenger throughput has been for each airport operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd in (a) 2005, (b) 2006 and (c) 2007.

Stewart Stevenson: The annual passenger throughput for each airport operated by Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL) is set out in the following table:

  

 
 2004-05
 2005-06
 2006-07
 2007-08*


 Barra
 9,133
 9,453
 10,083
 7,524


 Benbecula
 31,386
 34,259
 36,731
 22,681


 Campbeltown
 9,330
 9,600
 9,479
 6,493


 Inverness
 564,776
 665,677
 698,885
 463,799


 Islay
 22,145
 22,528
 28,472
 19,614


 Kirkwall
 114,594
 118,019
 137,769
 93,308


 Stornoway
 114,235
 118,967
 126,058
 78,440


 Sumburgh
 116,090
 136,597
 145,044
 101,064


 Tiree
 6,014
 6,854
 7,570
 5,253


 Wick
 27,954
 30,941
 32,691
 15,491



  Notes:

  The information for 2004-05 to 2006-07 is taken from HIAL’s annual reports.

  The 2007-08* figures are for the period 1 April 2007 to 31 October 2007 only.

  Further information is available on the HIAL website at: www.hial.co.uk.

Airports

David Stewart (Highlands and Islands) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what plans it has to expand Inverness Airport.

Stewart Stevenson: Officials have recently discussed the terminal capacity issues at Inverness Airport with Highlands and Islands Airports Ltd (HIAL). We recognise the drivers for the expansion project, such as capacity constraints at peak periods and security provision. HIAL is now carrying out further work on design, cost and phasing aspects of the project which will form the basis for further discussions, with the aim of delivering a terminal that meets the short and medium-term needs of a growing airport.

Economy

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive who took the decision not to conduct a strategic environmental assessment on The Government Economic Strategy and when this decision was made.

John Swinney: Ministers considered it more appropriate to focus Strategic Environmental Assessments on specific sub-strategies and policies.

Economy

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it sought legal advice on the requirement to conduct a strategic environmental assessment on The Government Economic Strategy .

John Swinney: The practice of the Scottish Government is neither to confirm or deny whether legal advice has been received on any issue.

Economy

Patrick Harvie (Glasgow) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers The Government Economic Strategy to be exempt from the provisions of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005 and, if so, under which section of the act the exemption exists.

John Swinney: The strategy is not exempt from the provisions of the Environmental Assessment (Scotland) Act 2005.

Education

Margo MacDonald (Lothians) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will instigate a pilot study of the teaching of Latin as part of language learning in schools.

Maureen Watt: The curriculum for Latin is part of the on-going review of the curriculum, Curriculum for Excellence . The draft outcomes and experiences for classical languages were released for engagement on 10 December on the Curriculum for Excellence website: www.curriculumforexcellencescotland.gov.uk .

  The introduction to the draft outcomes makes clear the very positive contribution that study of classical languages can make to learning of other languages, especially Romance languages.

  The Cabinet Secretary has asked officials to examine whether the publication of the draft outcomes and experiences for classical languages provides future opportunities for the teaching of Latin.

  HM Inspectorate of Education regularly inspect schools, including, where appropriate, inspection on the teaching of Latin.

Health

Mary Scanlon (Highlands and Islands) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, with reference to page 47 of Scottish Budget: Spending Review 2007 , how its target to "improve the quality of healthcare experience" will be measured.

Nicola Sturgeon: Better Together , the new programme for improving health care experience, which was announced in March 2007, will provide the information needed to monitor this target.

  The first part of this programme of work, which is currently underway, is to determine what aspects of healthcare are most important to patients and carers in Scotland. The results of this work will inform the next stage of the programme, which will collect information on patients’ and carers’ experiences.

  Information from the in-patient experience survey, which will be carried out from 2008-09, will feed into the new measure. The indicator will be developed in collaboration with NHS boards and the programme co-ordinators, and will represent experience relating to the areas that are of most concern to patients and carers.

  The purpose of Better Together is to enable patients, carers and health care staff to work together in partnership to initiate service improvements and redesign, based on enhanced use of information and feedback.

Health

Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what follow-up system there is for children following assessment at the Centre for Child Health in Dundee.

Nicola Sturgeon: NHS Tayside and the health care professionals providing services at the centre are responsible for determining and arranging any follow-up action required on the basis of an assessment of individual patients’ specific needs for care and treatment. Action will depend on the outcome of each assessment – psychological therapies, drug treatment and discharge are among the options. Follow-up to resolve individual episodes of care can range from several sessions to regular input over a number of years, depending on clinical need.

Health

Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether age is taken into consideration in prioritising appointments at the Centre for Child Health in Dundee.

Nicola Sturgeon: The health care professionals involved in referring children to the Centre and those receiving referrals will take into account a number of factors, including age, in determining priority in individual cases. However, clinical need and the degree of risk is the overriding factor.

Health

Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what medical assistance is available in Angus and Dundee for children diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Nicola Sturgeon: Within the framework of national guidance, NHS Tayside is responsible for assessing local service needs and for providing services to meet these needs. I understand that children who have been diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and are on medication are followed up routinely by the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service within the Centre for Child Health. Medication is monitored in collaboration with the patient’s GP through a shared care protocol.

Housing

Gavin Brown (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) households and (b) children lived in overcrowded housing in each of the last five years, broken down by local authority area.

Stewart Maxwell: The Scottish Household Survey provides local authority area estimates for households living in dwellings below the bedroom standard for consecutive two-year periods from 1999-2000. Table 1 shows the estimated percentage of Scottish households living in dwellings below the bedroom standard in each local authority area in 2005-06, and table 2 shows the estimated percentage of children who live in such households. Estimates for earlier periods were provided in the answer to question S2W-32511 on 26 March 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

  Table 1: Scottish Households Living Below the Bedroom Standard by Local Authority Area: 2005-06

  

 
 %
 Base


 Aberdeen City
 2
 1,236


 Aberdeenshire
 2
 1,236


 Angus
 2
 619


 Argyll and Bute
 3
 594


 Clackmannanshire
 2
 648


 Dumfries and Galloway
 2
 817


 Dundee City
 2
 912


 East Ayrshire
 2
 655


 East Dunbartonshire
 3
 526


 East Lothian
 3
 549


 East Renfrewshire
 2
 548


 Edinburgh, City of
 2
 2,635


 Eilean Siar
 2
 509


 Falkirk
 2
 791


 Fife
 2
 2,148


 Glasgow City
 5
 3,284


 Highland
 1
 1,185


 Inverclyde
 4
 531


 Midlothian
 2
 554


 Moray
 2
 615


 North Ayrshire
 3
 713


 North Lanarkshire
 5
 1,846


 Orkney Islands
 2
 624


 Perth and Kinross
 1
 704


 Renfrewshire
 2
 924


 Scottish Borders
 1
 663


 Shetland Islands
 1
 611


 South Ayrshire
 1
 626


 South Lanarkshire
 3
 1,642


 Stirling
 2
 642


 West Dunbartonshire
 3
 516


 West Lothian
 1
 910



  Table 2: Scottish Children Living Below the Bedroom Standard by Local Authority Area: 2005-06

  

 
 %
 Base


 Aberdeen City
 5
 415


 Aberdeenshire
 6
 634


 Angus
 5
 272


 Argyll and Bute
 8
 266


 Clackmannanshire
 8
 274


 Dumfries and Galloway
 8
 299


 Dundee City
 14
 307


 East Ayrshire
 5
 269


 East Dunbartonshire
 10
 264


 East Lothian
 12
 243


 East Renfrewshire
 9
 337


 Edinburgh, City of
 10
 863


 Eilean Siar
 6
 213


 Falkirk
 10
 357


 Fife
 9
 927


 Glasgow City
 18
 1,233


 Highland
 5
 512


 Inverclyde
 16
 259


 Midlothian
 8
 282


 Moray
 6
 325


 North Ayrshire
 10
 340


 North Lanarkshire
 13
 962


 Orkney Islands
 5
 240


 Perth and Kinross
 5
 301


 Renfrewshire
 7
 487


 Scottish Borders
 4
 265


 Shetland Islands
 5
 314


 South Ayrshire
 7
 245


 South Lanarkshire
 9
 821


 Stirling
 8
 308


 West Dunbartonshire
 10
 229


 West Lothian
 4
 448



  Source: Scottish Household Survey, 2005-06.

  Notes:

  1. Base numbers show the sample sizes of the population participating in the survey but cannot be used to calculate how many respondents gave a certain answer. The base in table 1 refers to the number of households in the sample and in table 2 to the number of children in households in the sample.

  2. Year-on-year changes should be interpreted with caution as estimates can fluctuate from year to year due to sampling variability and small sample sizes. This is a particular issue for table 2 where the sampling unit is the household but the unit of analysis is the number of children in the household.

  3. The estimates are provided for a two-year sweep as the survey is not designed to be representative at local authority level for a single year.

  4. The bedroom standard represents the minimum number of bedrooms required for a household.

  The standard requires that a separate bedroom is available for:

  each cohabiting couple;

  any other person aged 21 years or over;

  each pair of young persons of the same sex aged 10 to 20 years, and

  each pair of children under 10 years (regardless of sex).

  Unpaired young persons aged 10 to 20 are paired with a child under 10 of the same sex if possible or allocated a separate bedroom. Any unpaired children under 10 are also allocated a separate bedroom.

Housing

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive when the consultation document on the funding of registered social landlords, as referred to in Firm Foundations: The Future of Housing in Scotland , will be made available.

Stewart Maxwell: The Scottish Government will consult on its proposals to introduce large scale competition for subsidy for affordable housing next year, following consideration of the responses to Firm Foundations .

Local Government Concordat

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, which of the funds identified at Annex B to be rolled into the local government settlement (a) are currently determined by a bidding process, (b) are applicable to certain geographic locations only, (c) are funding pilots in certain local authorities, (d) are funding nationally organised campaigns or (e) do not have a distribution formula requiring funding to go to all local authorities; which local authorities are affected, and how much each receives from each of the identified funds.

John Swinney: The information requested has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 44310).

Local Government Concordat

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what the previous finance allocation per year of each fund referred to in Annex B was since its inception.

John Swinney: The information requested has been placed in the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (Bib. number 44311).

Local Government Concordat

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether local government will be able to veto any extension to the free school meals pilot.

Adam Ingram: As stated in the concordat, for the entire package to remain intact, the Scottish Government and local government will each do what is required to ensure delivery of key government policies and programmes. That includes delivery of the commitment that local authorities will provide free school meals to all primary 1 to primary 3 pupils from August 2010, if the evaluation of the current trial is positive and the necessary legislation is passed by the Scottish Parliament.

Local Government Concordat

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether any individual local authority will have discretion on whether to introduce free school meals for all primary 1, 2 and 3 pupils if the pilot is deemed to have been successful and the Scottish Government wishes it be rolled out.

Adam Ingram: Under the terms of concordat there will be a move to an agreement for every local authority, based on the agreed set of national outcomes. For the entire package to remain intact, the Scottish Government and local government will each do what is required to ensure delivery of key government policies and programmes. That includes delivery of the commitment that local authorities will provide free school meals to all primary 1 to primary 3 pupils from August 2010, if the evaluation of the current trial is positive and the necessary legislation is passed by the Scottish Parliament.

Local Government Concordat

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what legislation is required to extend free school meals to the recipients of maximum child tax credit.

Adam Ingram: Regulations under section 53(3) of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 are required to extend free school lunches to the recipients of maximum child tax credit. These regulations will be subject to negative procedure in the Scottish Parliament.

Local Government Concordat

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether local authorities will have to meet the costs of extending the entitlement to free school meals to those on maximum child tax credit from August 2009 from within the sums agreed as part of the concordat.

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what it estimates the annual cost will be of extending entitlement to those on maximum child tax credit and how that cost will be arrived at.

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether it expects local authorities to meet the full costs of any roll-out of free school meals to primary 1 to primary 3 pupils from within the cash agreement set by the concordat.

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, what its estimate is of the costs of the roll-out of its pilot on free school meals to all schools and how these costs are calculated.

Adam Ingram: I refer the member to the answer to question S3W-6744 on 3 December 2007. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at: http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Local Government Concordat

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, how funding costed in the SNP manifesto for free school meals compares with the amount allocated in Scottish Budget: Spending Review 2007 and what the reasons are for any differences in the two figures.

Adam Ingram: The concordat makes clear that the vast majority of the funding allocated through the Scottish Budget, including the funding for free school meals , will be provided by means of a block grant. It is the responsibility of each local authority to allocate the total financial resources available to it on the basis of local needs and priorities having first fulfilled its statutory obligations and the jointly agreed set of national and local priorities including the Scottish Government’s key strategic objectives and the full terms of the concordat.

Local Government Concordat

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, how eligibility for a kinship carers’ allowance will be assessed.

Adam Ingram: Allowances will be paid to approved kinship carers of looked after children. The term "looked after" is defined in the Children (Scotland) Act 1995. The approval process for kinship carers will be developed by the reference group established by Getting it right for every child in kinship and foster care and led by the Fostering Network (TFN) and the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF).

Local Government Concordat

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, under the terms of its concordat with COSLA, whether the cash settlement set by the concordat is expected to cover the introduction of kinship carers’ allowances.

Adam Ingram: The funding package offered to local government, as part of the joint concordat between the Scottish Government and COSLA, contains adequate allocation for local authorities to meet the commitment and outcomes contained within the concordat.

Ministerial Visits

Andy Kerr (East Kilbride) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how many visits the Minister for Europe, External Affairs and Culture has made to parliamentary constituencies since May 2007, broken down by constituency.

Linda Fabiani: I have visited the following constituencies since May 2007:

  

 Constituency
 Number of Times


 Carrick, Cumnock and Doon
 1


 Dumbarton
 1


 Dundee West
 2


 East Kilbride
 3


 East Lothian 
 1


 Edinburgh Central
 30


 Edinburgh North and Leith
 15


 Edinburgh South
 1


 Edinburgh West
 1


 Falkirk East
 1


 Glasgow Cathcart
 1


 Glasgow Govan
 2


 Glasgow Kelvin
 15


 Glasgow Shettleston 
 1


 Hamilton South
 1


 Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber
 3


 Linlithgow
 1


 Motherwell and Wishaw
 1


 North Tayside
 1


 Ochil
 1


 Paisley North
 2


 Ross, Skye and Inverness
 1


 Stirling
 5


 Total Visits
 91

NHS Staff

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to increase the funding available for occupational therapy services.

Nicola Sturgeon: All NHS boards receive an annual allocation of funds. Each board’s allocation will be increased in each year of the spending review period. It is for each NHS board to decide how best to utilise these funds to meet the health care needs of its resident population taking account of national and local priorities, including occupational therapy services. No specific additional funding is being provided for occupational therapy services. It will be for boards to decide whether any of the additional funding being made available to them is used for this purpose.

  Board workforce plans published in April 2007 have predicted that the overall number of qualified occupational therapists is projected to increase by almost 3.6% over the next three years from 1,536.3 in 2006 to 1,592.3 in 2009.

NHS Staff

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive how many occupational therapists there are in each NHS board.

Nicola Sturgeon: Information on staff employed in NHSScotland is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics at www.isdscotland.org/workforce .

  Section F gives details of therapeutic, health care science, technical, pharmacy and ambulance staff. In particular, tables F1 and F2 show the whole-time equivalent and head count of occupational therapists employed in NHSScotland by year and by NHS board and region. Whole-time equivalent adjusts head count to take account of part-time working. Latest available data is at 30 September 2006.

NHS Staff

Murdo Fraser (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it considers that there are sufficient occupational therapists.

Nicola Sturgeon: NHS boards are responsible for designing the models of service they require and ensuring the staffing resource to deliver that and meet the needs of their population.

  Occupational therapy recruitment is a matter for individual health boards.

  Board workforce plans, published in April 2007, have predicted that the overall number of qualified occupational therapists is projected to increase by almost 3.6% over the next three years from 1,536.3 in 2006 to 1,592.3 in 2009.

  Each NHS board holds employment details for its own staff. Information is collected by ISD Scotland and is published on the Scottish Health Statistics website under Workforce Statistics at: www.isdscotland.org/workforce.

NHS Waiting Times

Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is from GP referral to formal assessment for children at the Centre for Child Health in Dundee.

Nicola Sturgeon: Waiting times in individual cases depend on the degree of urgency based on the clinical judgement of the health care professionals involved. Children whose needs are urgent will be seen quickly and before those whose needs are more routine.

  The management and recording of waiting times for specific services is primarily a matter for NHS Tayside.

NHS Waiting Times

Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the waiting list priorities are at the Centre for Child Health in Dundee.

Nicola Sturgeon: Clinical need as assessed by the appropriate health care professionals involved is the main factor that determines priorities. Children or young people at the highest clinical risk will have the highest clinical priority. The centre will also take account of other risk factors in assessing the urgency of the need for assessment or treatment.

NHS Waiting Times

Andrew Welsh (Angus) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average waiting time is for a child to be assessed by an educational psychologist following referral from the Centre for Child Health in Dundee.

Nicola Sturgeon: The Centre for Child Health does not normally refer children to educational psychology services. The appropriate local authority education department is responsible for providing these services and referrals are normally from individual schools or parents.

Regeneration

Jack McConnell (Motherwell and Wishaw) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the redevelopment of the former Ravenscraig site will remain a national priority for the enterprise network.

Jim Mather: Discussions are underway about the transfer of regeneration activities between Scottish Enterprise and local authorities in line with recent reforms. Projects will be classified as being significant at a local, regional or national level but no decisions have been made on individual projects. However, where formal Scottish Enterprise funding commitments exist for approved projects, these will be honoured.

Regeneration

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what level of financial support is committed by it and other government agencies to the regeneration of the Clydebank riverside.

Stewart Maxwell: There are currently a number of funding streams which are contributing to the regeneration of the Clydebank riverside. These include the support that the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise are providing for Clydebank Re-built Urban Regeneration Company, and the significant resources committed in the area by Communities Scotland for housing investment, Wider Role and the Community Regeneration Fund.

Schools

John Wilson (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussion it has had with North Lanarkshire Council in respect of future school building provision, with reference to the Scottish Futures Trust.

Maureen Watt: There have been discussions with various parts of the public sector about the potential for the Scottish Futures Trust to assist with the delivery of major public infrastructure. There are also periodic discussions between Scottish Government officials and individual authorities on school estate matters.

Scottish Government Staff

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of staff are (a) female and (b) disabled in each of its departments and what the policy is for encouraging positive discrimination in favour of women and disabled people.

John Swinney: The following table sets out the percentages of women and disabled staff in each of the Scottish Government’s Directorates-General as at 1 December 2007.

  

 
 Female Staff as % of Total Head Count
 
 Disabled Staff as % of Total Head Count


 Female
 Male
 Disabled


 Paid Centrally Managed Staff *
 90.47%
 9.52%
 7.93%


 DG Economy and Chief Economic Adviser
 47.03%
 52.96%
 2.96%


 DG Education
 57.53%
 42.46%
 4.59%


 DG Environment
 41.98%
 58.01%
 4.29%


 DG Health and Chief Executive NHS Scotland
 62.41%
 37.58%
 5.01%


 DG Justice and Communities
 56.23%
 43.76%
 4.20%


 Permanent Secretary
 41.76%
 58.23%
 5.19%


 % of Total Head Count
 50.01%
 49.98%
 4.42%



  Note: *Includes staff on maternity/adoption leave, long term sickness and un-posted staff.

  The Scottish Government does not, and would not, consider using positive discrimination where it is not permitted under current legislation. However, we do, and will, use where required and appropriate, positive action statements and images to encourage applications from under-represented groups.

  In addition, we are a Jobcentre Plus Disability Symbol User. This allows us to guarantee an interview to all disabled candidates who meet the minimum requirements for any advertised post.

Shipbuilding

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any ministers have visited Scottish shipyards since May 2007 and, if so, whether it will provide details of each visit.

John Swinney: The Minister for Enterprise, Energy and Tourism visited Ferguson Shipbuilders, Port Glasgow in June 2007 and BAE Systems Surface Fleet Solutions, Govan Yard in August 2007.

  On both occasions the minister met with Company Management and Trade Unions to discuss Scottish Government support for the Scottish shipbuilding industry.

Shipbuilding

George Foulkes (Lothians) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any ministers plan to visit Scottish shipyards in the near future.

John Swinney: Ministers will ensure a broad programme of visits is maintained in the future and this will include visits to shipyards.

Single Outcome Agreements

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the performance of local authorities in respect of single outcome agreements will be subject to parliamentary scrutiny.

John Swinney: I have indicated to the Local Government and Communities Committee that I would be happy to discuss parliamentary scrutiny of the operation of single outcome agreements and I will be writing to the convener of the committee shortly to propose how this should happen.

Single Outcome Agreements

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how the performance of local authorities in respect of single outcome agreements will be made publicly available.

John Swinney: Each local authority will be required to publish an annual report around the turn of the financial year. The report will set out the progress and achievements the local authority has made towards meeting the national outcomes and other commitments contained in its single outcome agreement.

  the first reports will cover the financial year 2008-09.

Single Outcome Agreements

Johann Lamont (Glasgow Pollok) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures will be put in place in the event of local authorities underachieving in respect of single outcome agreements.

John Swinney: The single outcome agreements will contain measures for addressing under performance. These measures will be determined by the group overseeing the process towards implementation of the single outcome agreements and set within the context of the government’s new performance framework.

Traffic

Jamie Hepburn (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the recommended design maximum is for (a) daily and (b) hourly peak traffic flows for dual (i) two-lane and (ii) three-lane motorways.

Stewart Stevenson: There are no recommended design maxima for traffic flows for any category of road in either daily or hourly terms. The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges (DMRB) Volume 5, Advice Note TA 46/97 "Traffic Flow Ranges for Use in the Assessment of New Rural Roads", sets out opening year flow ranges for use only as starting points in the design and economic assessment of new rural road links. These are as follows:

  

 Carriageway Standard
 Opening Year AADT


 Minimum
 Maximum


 Dual 2 Lane Motorway
 Up to 41,000


 Dual 3 Lane Motorway
 25,000
 67,000



  Note: AADT is Annual Average Daily Traffic in vehicles per day.

  These flows do not represent maximum throughputs which depend on vehicle type mix, driver behaviour, junction spacing, maintenance considerations, etc.

  No hourly peak traffic flow ranges are given in the DMRB.